


Running Alongside

by A_Likely_Story



Category: Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-25 12:06:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6194545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Likely_Story/pseuds/A_Likely_Story
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after episode one, and filling in/ running alongside the series<br/>Alec Lightwood didn't expect much from life. And he didn't mean that in a bad, poor- little- me way. He had his family, and he had his duty, and he knew what was expected of him. <br/>Until that little girl had shown up, and dragged them all so far away from the world of all that Alec knew was right that he couldn’t think straight. <br/>And that was part of the problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alec deflected problems. He knew he did it, and he knew he did it well. It was his most prominent rune, plain for all with the shadow sight to see. His father had suggested he mark it there, and so Alec had, because Alec did what he was told. Alec the Deflector. That’s probably what they would write on his gravestone.   
Alec deflected emotions too, and he knew it irritated Izzy, his confident, passionate sister Izzy, who was so open and so herself that it sometimes made Alec feel like he was made of stone.   
She had started dropping in comments to their conversations, but Alec didn’t even begin to address them. He wasn’t going to confess things to her that he hadn’t even fully admitted to himself. Because they weren’t true. And they weren’t feelings. Alec the deflector didn’t deal in feelings.  
It had been a shock though, when Jace had ordered him to stop talking, so that he could attend to the carrot girl with the flaring nostrils and tear stained face. She was a mundane. She wasn’t supposed to be in the institute, lying on institute property, gazing up at Jace like he was her saviour.  
Although, according to Jace, he had been her saviour, he had slipped off and tracked her back to her loft and then appeared at the institute doors, soaking wet and holding the girl “Her name is Clary, Alec!” like she was a rag doll, limp in his arms.  
Izzy had sprung to action at once, preparing a bed, and Alec had been unable to stop himself repeating that she wasn’t allowed in the institute, causing both his sister and Jace to gaze at him with agape expressions.  
“She’s injured, Alec,” Izzy had told him, folding the sheets down. “What, you want us to just dump her outside the institute and leave her there?”  
Jace hadn’t said anything, his attention already diverted back to the girl, who even in her unconscious state was clearly more appealing for Jace to look at.  
So Alec had left them to it, and went to the training room, and battered the punch bag and was non-committal to Hodge when he asked how the mission had gone. The mission, that they hadn’t gained anything from because that girl had got involved when there was absolutely no reason to get involved. She had nearly got Jace killed.   
They had left pandemonium shortly after she had ran off looking like she’d just stabbed a demon to death (oh that’s right, she had as Jace had mentioned twice already). Although, Alec had seen it happen, and it looked to him more like the demon had happened to step into the seraph blade she had mistakenly picked up.  
According to Jace, this was further proof that she was a shadowhunter, and that it all meant something. Alec had assumed they would never see her again, but they were nearly back to the institute and all of a sudden Jace had been gone.  
“He’s probably gone to blow off some steam,” Izzy had smiled her knowing smile, and Alec had grunted his unknowing grunt back, because he didn’t know, not really.  
He was used to it, of course, his parabatai giving him a wink before shrugging on his leather jacket, and sauntering out the door, but it didn’t bother Alec, because he never saw them and so they were never real, but this one, she was real, and small, and Jace was clearly distracted by her. He had been distracted by her in the club, and he was being distracted by her now, and everyone knew that distractions were costly, that distractions got you killed. So she couldn’t be worth that.  
Alec could feel Izzy’s eyes on him as went to send the message to the Clave to say that the mission hadn’t brought about any new intel. She knew him better than he did himself, that’s how she always knew the right things to say to calm him down, and the wrong thing to say to wind him up, but didn’t know everything.  
Alec pushed down the handle of the door and then turned around and walked away. He couldn’t send word to the Clave without mentioning the presence of the unwanted visitor, but Jace had argued that there was no point in informing the Clave about her when they didn’t know exactly who she was yet, and the whole conversation Alec had to suppress his need to roll his eyes because this was what he was talking about- they didn’t know this girl! She could be a spy, or a threat, or-  
Jace had cut him off. “Really, Alec,” he said, his voice mocking, gesturing at her, who typically, in her sleeping state looked about as threatening as a rubber duck.  
And so Alec had abandoned the argument, and he resolved now to be calmer when he next saw the girl again. Alec the deflector, deflecting, defectively.


	2. Chapter 2

Alec was with Izzy, piecing together footage from a possible demon attack when he heard Jace’s voice cut through the bustling hall. He glanced up and saw him with Clary and another stranger. A mundane. Alec jerked his eyebrow up and marched over. The mundane wore glasses and an over eager expression. He asked questions liked he was owed answers.  
Alec was surprised when Jace decided Clary needed to know answers about their shadowhunters past, answers that they didn’t even know, but he didn’t say anything, just let his arms slide into their usual defensive stance which meant he was observing but currently unavailable to contribute. Clary and the mundane began burbling to each other, and Jace shot them down with reassuring Jaceness.   
Izzy introduced herself into the conversation with her usual parade, and Alec had to admit it was amusing to see Lewis, Simon Lewis’s eyes nearly fall out from looking at her. The little girl seemed to need reassurance that her little friend would be okay “Jace, if anything happens to him”- and Alec was glad that he and Jace didn’t need oddly worded sentiments and other peoples promises that they’d be taken care of. He and Jace had each other’s backs. Always.  
Jace went off to find Hodge, who would probably be in the training room, and Izzy stalked to her room, Simon following like a lovesick puppy. Alec wouldn’t have minded finding out what Hodge had to say, but the way Jace and Clary had left made it clear that it was a private mission. Alec didn’t mind. Jace would tell him what Hodge said when he got back anyway.   
He went and lay down on his bed, and stared at his ceiling. He did this sometimes, in between missions, when he needed just a moment to be in the stillness of being. Everything they did was so fast paced it could be hard to switch off. He often couldn’t sleep unless he was exhausted, so the small snatches of rest were important to him.  
Alec got up after twenty minutes and attended to things he needed to attend. Being acting head of the institute meant he had a lot of duties, the main one being in constant contact with the Clave, who sanctioned missions and expected to be kept informed of the goings on at the institute. He had told them about Clary (with her permission- Jace thought it only right she got a say in the matter) He wasn’t able to speak to anyone directly at the Clave as no one was available, so he left a message.   
Jace was waiting for him outside the communications room, leaning against the wall.   
“So we know why Clary’s mother is involved.”  
“Oh,” Alec said, reluctant to show interest in anything Clary related.   
“She was in the circle. With Valentine.” Jace looked troubled by this, and Alec wondered was he thinking about his father.  
“We think she hid the cup.”  
“We?” Alec repeated and immediately regretted it. Jace looked at him sharply. “Yes, we. Clary and Hodge and I.”  
“Does she know where it is?”  
Jace sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. “She doesn’t but she might.”  
“Meaning what?”  
“We think her memories might be blocked. By a warlock.”  
Alec’s phone buzzed before he could respond. It was a notification that The Clave was trying to contact the institute. Izzy had set up an alert on Alec’s phone after he had missed one of their meetings and been thoroughly rebuked. He didn’t understand how it all connected, but it worked and that was all that mattered to Alec.   
Jace sighed again. “I’ll leave you to it,” he said, peeling himself off the wall. Alec stood at the half open door and watched him go, before catching himself and focusing on what The Clave had to say.

He met with the others in the weapons room. He had frowned at his phone when he read Jace’s text. He knew that meeting in the weapons room wasn’t an indicator of a quiet, uneventful night in. He would have much preferred to meet in the kitchen, even if Izzy was the one on cooking duty. His hope of a quiet, uneventful night in plummeted with the next text he received from Jace: Mission- Find Dot (Clary’s warlock)- find the cup- defeat Valentine. Alec slid the phone in his pocket, irritated.  
They all stood huddled at the weapons vault looking like a team, even though two of them were strangers. “I don’t approve this mission,” Alec said, striding over. Izzy turned and gave him a smug look, the cat that got the cream. He knew she sometimes saw him as a stick- in- the- mud, the boring older brother following the rules. He mainly didn’t care. Everyone had a role and a duty, and he fulfilled his.   
No one could see that Alec was right. Clary downright didn’t care, she couldn’t even see that there might be a problem with her leaving the safety of the institute and walking out into a world that had changed completely before her eyes. She started talking and then she gave a dramatic gasp, that Alec somewhat hoped was a sign that she was going to faint or at the very least stop talking. Then he noticed the way the necklace around her neck lit up, and he began to think the shard would portal her somewhere. Somewhere far far away. And the mundane as well.   
Sadly, this did not come to pass, and she instead looked at them all with a dazed expression (Alec didn’t actually think it was all that different to how she normally looked but he assumed that was the expression she was going for).  
Simon offered his services as a cab driver for them, and then asked if the runes at the institute would actually kill him. Alec shared a complicit look with Jace and Izzy. If only.  
The car journey there was short which suited Alec, because he did not like cars. He got travel sickness with a horrible frequency so avoided them when he could. Obviously he could not say this to Clary and Simon, nor did he want to sit and the front beside Simon, so he sat in the back, his face pressed against the window, trying not to breathe in any smells. Clary and Simon talked about things that meant nothing to Alec, and he, Jace and Izzy sat silently in the back.  
The place Clary thought Dot would be turned out to be Pandemonium, and Alec scowled at the flashing neon sign as they passed below it. Clary rushed through the building, getting more and more hysterical. Alec didn’t understand hysterical people. Hysterics didn’t solve anything, but try telling that to a hysterical person. She could run surprisingly fast though, Alec would give her that.  
The club felt different without the pulsing lights and the thumping music and all those people. It felt less safe. It felt less safe because of Clary, because people were after her (God knew why).  
“It’s not safe here,” he said, scanning the room. “We have to go back to the institute right now.”  
Predictably Clary argued. And then Jace suggested something very stupid. The Silent Brothers.   
“I’m not scared of the Silent Brother’s,” Jace proclaimed, and if Alec didn’t know him, he would have believed him. The Silent Brothers were eerily powerful and shrouded in mystery. Only a fool wouldn’t be afraid of the Silent Brothers. Alec couldn’t understand why he had brought them up. He was all for helping Clary (so she would leave) but the Silent Brothers were a step too far. You couldn’t just stroll down to the City of Bones and request an audience with the Silent Brothers. It required Clave approval, and the Clave hadn’t even signed off on this jolly jaunt, so they were definitely not going to approve taking little girl lost to be found by the big, bad Silent Brothers.  
“I won’t allow it,” Alec said, but apparently it wasn’t Alec’s decision to make. And he could see where Jace was coming from, just a little, because Clary was still separate from them so why should she follow their law?   
And she was like a pitbull, focused solely on one thing- the path which led to her saving her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rest of this chapter to come soon :)


End file.
